Easter Valentine
by IrrationalMusing
Summary: When Layla C. Love is taken by her best friend, Jack Frost, to the North Pole, she meets an Australian Pooka and her life takes a turn she didn't expect. Rated T because of... paranoia, I guess. Bunny x OC, my first fanfic :)
1. Chapter 1: Midnight Meetings

**This is my first ever story on this site, so please be nice! I'd appreciate reviews and constructive criticism :) **

**Disclaimer: Sadly, I don't own Rise of the Guardians.**

* * *

It was the worst winter Burgess had seen for years, but of course Jack Frost was having the time of his life. Dark clouds covered the sky as he hovered in the air above the town. He smiled to himself mischievously, before spinning around and shooting blasts of ice in all directions. It was a start, but he had a lot more to do if he was to make this a winter to remember.

He heard a cry from below, but paid no attention until a female voice yelled, "Jack Frost, you idiot!"

He descended to the ground and looked around, but saw no one.

"Who's there?" he called apprehensively. Was someone here who could actually see him?

"Watch where you shoot that staff, Frost!" the voice said again, from behind him this time.

He spun around to see a girl glaring at him. She looked to be about eighteen, same as him, with long dark brown hair and bright green eyes, wearing a red long sleeved shirt and a white skirt, with gold sandals on her feet. Jack didn't really notice any of this though. His attention was drawn to the bow and quiver of arrows she had slid off her back. He held up his staff defensively.

"Look, I'm sorry. It was an accident."

The girl brushed some snow off her shoulders and flicked her damp hair out of her face.

"I just don't like getting cold," she said, picking a gold arrow out of the quiver. Jack studied her for a second.

"Hey, you're Cupid," he said eventually.

"That's Layla C. Love to you, Frost," Cupid told him in an irritated manner.

"How do you know me?" Jack asked her curiously. He hadn't met another spirit since that… unfortunate run-in with the Leprechaun.

She paused, looking down at her bow, before saying, "The Sandman told me about some of the spirits. You, obviously, being one of them."

Jack nodded, and Layla let a small smile edge onto her face. "So, Jack Frost, making a snowstorm?"

Jack grinned. "It's the biggest blizzard Burgess has ever seen," he said proudly.

"Sorry I won't be around to see it," Layla answered. "I guess I'll see you around then, Frost. My work is never done."

"Sure, Cupid."

"It's Layla," she corrected him before summoning a breeze to take her away.

"Whatever you say, Cupid!" Jack called after her.

She let the wind catch her and pull her upwards, staring at the glow of the moon through the clouds and whispering again, "It's Layla. Layla C. Love."

* * *

Layla floated on the cold breeze over the rooftops. It was near midnight, and she was waiting for Sandman and Jack Frost.

Threads of golden sand twisted and turned above her head. She reached up and ran her fingers through a stream.

"Hey, Sandy," she whispered, knowing he couldn't hear her, but saying it all the same.

Then a boy in a blue hoodie came running and jumping and flying over the roofs, laughing. Layla grinned as he slid through the air to a halt in front of her.

"Hey!" he said.

Jack knew what it felt like to be alone, to not have anyone believe in you. She thought that was why they became friends in the first place. Kids believed in him now, and she knew how happy that made him.

"Hi," she answered.

"So whatcha been up to?" Jack asked, balancing on his staff in thin air, grinning at her.

"You know, normal stuff, making people fall in love and whatever," she said dismissively. She liked her job, but it felt like there must have been a better one that she just didn't get. Her luck.

Jack raised an eyebrow and shrugged. Layla looked up at Sandy sending down clouds and rivers of dream sand. Sometimes he couldn't get to their midnight meetings, and it looked like tonight was one of those nights because he directed some sand straight to them, which formed into the shape of a plane flying away, with a tiny Sandy sitting inside, waving goodbye. They both looked up at the real Sandman and his ship, and waved.

"Bye, Sandy," Layla said.

Jack looked at me with an amused expression. "There's no way he heard that."

"I know," she answered, shrugging.

He shook his head and smiled.

"So how's the GUARDIAN doing?" she teased him gently.

He smirked. "Pretty good. Except I've got to put up with the Easter Kangaroo…"

Layla looked at him curiously. He'd told her a little bit about the Easter Bunny before.

He changed the subject. "Y'know, you should come with me to Santoff Clausen."

"Isn't that at the North Pole? I can't go there."

"I could probably get you past the yetis." He grinned hopefully.

She rolled her eyes. "That's reassuring. It's ok, Jack, it's not a big deal."

"Come on! We can go tomorrow."

"Don't think so."

"Please?"

His blue eyes were pleading.

She sighed. "Fine."

"Awesome!" he said. "Anyway, there's supposed to be a blizzard in Minnesota tonight, so…"

"Ok, bye."

He launched himself into the air, looking down at her with a smirk. She grinned back and watched him spin around and fly until he was out of sight and she was alone.


	2. Chapter 2: Guardians

**Thank you so much to everyone who favourited and is following this :D you're awesome!  
**

* * *

As he ran through his rabbit tunnel, Bunnymund wondered why all the Guardians kept coming back to the North Pole. There wasn't any danger to the kids, Pitch was gone. He hopped out of his tunnel into the snow.

"Oh, great," he muttered. He hated snow. "Crikey, it's cold!"

He dashed through the snow and up to North's palace. Inside, Tooth was flitting around the giant globe. She was worrying about Baby Tooth and the fact that it was the mini fairy's first day in the field for months. Sandy watched her, frowning. He hated any of his friends not being happy, so he spun some sand into a little figurine of Baby Tooth and sent it flying over to her. It rested lightly on her shoulder, and she reached over and stroked it gently with one finger, smiling at Sandy.

Bunnymund hopped in, shaking the snow off his fur and out of his ears.

"It's freezing outside!" he exclaimed.

"Well, that should be expected," North said from where he stood, conversing with a yeti. "This is North Pole after all."

Bunny glared at him. "So, where's Frost?"

His question was never answered, because just then they heard yelling from behind the doors to the workshop, before they opened with a bang. Jack and a girl that only Sandy recognized ran inside, being chased by Phil the yeti.

"What's going on here?" North boomed.

They slid to a halt, both the spirits and the yeti. North permitted Phil to leave, and he did, sending a dark look Jack and the unknown girl's way.

"So, Jack, who is this?" North asked.

"This is my friend, Layla Love," he said uncertainly.

"Ah hah, Cupid, I believe?"

The girl had been staring at the floor, but now she looked up, brushing her dark hair out of her face. Bunny, who had been watching the whole scene, was struck by how pretty she was.

"Yes, sir," she said nervously.

North nodded, smiling. Jack and Layla tentatively smiled back.

"Welcome! It's been while since we meet new spirit."

"Thank you!" Layla said, reassured. She looked around at the Guardians. Sandy waved at her and she grinned back.

Tooth flew up to her. "Hello, Layla!" the fairy said. "My name is Toothiana."

"Hi, it's nice to meet you," Layla answered.

"Oh, wow! I'm sorry, just… Your teeth are so white!"

"Thanks, I guess." Layla was slightly confused, but she guessed this was normal for the Tooth Fairy.

"Hey, Tooth, don't scare the Sheila!" an Australian voice said.

"Sorry," Tooth said ruefully. "They're very beautiful."

"That's ok," Layla said. She was staring at the person who had reprimanded Tooth.

Was he a kangaroo, or… Oh, wait, he's a bunny.

"G'day, lass."

"Hello," she greeted him. "I'm Layla C. Love, otherwise known as Cupid."

"E. Aster Bunnymund."

"So, Easter Bunny. Do you only work one day a year? Like North?"

"Easter eggs don't paint themselves, so I got a few months each year to prepare."

"Makes sense. You at least get a break. People never stop falling in love, but it'd give me a break if they did." Layla pulled a face, making Bunnymund chuckle.

"I guess it can be hard sometimes," he shrugged.

Layla shifted her bow and arrows off her back onto the floor. Bunny glanced at the bow.

"Nice weapons you got there, lass."

Layla smiled, but before she could answer, Jack called her over to the globe. She shot Bunny an apologetic look and went to see what Jack wanted.

"Look," Jack said, pointing out the shining lights.

"What are they?"

"Believers. They're all the children that believe in the Guardians," was his answer.

Layla stared up at the globe in wonder, at the millions of twinkling star-like lights, all of them children who had so much faith and hope.

She sadly thought to herself, _Does anyone believe in me...?_

* * *

Layla carefully aimed at the red bullseye on the target. She was careful not to use her gold arrows for target practice because... Well, she'd made people fall in love by accident before, and she did NOT want that happening again. After she had met the Guardians a few weeks ago, she and Jack visited the Pole every couple of days. She especially loved how welcoming they had all been to her.

Jack watched her with interest as she practiced. "Hey, do you think I'd be any good at that?"

Personally, Layla thought that Jack with a bow and arrow would be a bad combination. "This isn't as easy as it looks, Jack."

"It can't be that hard!"

He took the bow from her and ran a hand over the patterns carved into it. "Hey..."

"What?" Layla asked.

"On your bow. Did you carve these?"

Layla took a closer look. She'd never really paid much attention to the pictures before, but when she looked now, she saw minute figures of hummingbirds, swirls of sand, little eggs, snowflakes and elves. "No... They've always been there."

She took it back, stroking her thumb over the little pictures. Where'd they come from?


	3. Chapter 3: The Warren

Layla knew next to nothing about the Guardians - except Jack and Sandy. What did their centres have to do with anything? She vaguely wondered what her centre was. Ok, it was probably Love. Being Cupid and everything.

The elves at the Pole clustered around her, the bells on their hats jingling, and stared up at her.

"Um, yes?" she said.

No reply. Just their eyes blinking at her. She sighed. She wasn't a mean person, but these elves could be a little annoying. Maybe she thought so because she didn't have companions of her own, like Tooth's fairies or Bunnymund's eggs.

She smiled as she thought about the day before...

* * *

**Yesterday **

Layla didn't know what she was expecting from the different Guardian's realms. She'd been to Tooth's palace. It was amazing, and she had met Baby Tooth for the first time, as well as the other fairies. At first, some of them had been suspicious of her, but eventually decided that she was no threat to their queen or the teeth.

Now she stood in what she could only describe as a bunny's paradise - but with Easter eggs. The grass under her bare feet was the softest thing she'd ever felt. A few blank eggs came near to her, and she got the feeling they were apprehensive about her. Why did all the Guardians' companions think she was some kind of threat?

"It's ok," she said softly. "I won't do anything to you."

They skittered away from her to join a line of eggs standing still, like little soldiers. As the last few eggs joined the line, they marched away, and Layla wondered where they were going. Bunnymund hopped up to her.

"I'd move if I were you, mate. The eggs stop for no one."

She didn't understand what he meant, but she followed him further into the Warren anyway. Looking back to where she had stood, she saw crowds of eggs marching away towards the lines of flowers that had sprayed her with paint earlier. Bunny picked up a couple of paintbrushes and approached a row of budding flowers. Layla stayed back warily - she didn't feel like having a paint job. But then Bunnymund tapped each flower, and they opened to reveal yet more Easter eggs. He glanced at her and smiled, handing her a paintbrush.

She picked up an egg very gently and let it stand on her palm while she carried it over to a paint pool. Bunnymund did the same with another egg. Layla gently set the little egg on its feet, and it jumped into the pool of blue paint. When it hopped out again (for some reason, the paint was perfectly dry already), Layla watched Bunny start to make patterns on his egg's shell, and she followed his lead and did the same to hers. It made a small noise, like it was laughing.

"Does it tickle?" she asked with a smile.

"You're good at this," Bunny said when she'd finished painting a few of the cute little Easter eggs. "You're gonna have to come back next year, lass."

"Thanks. I'd like that," Layla answered, her cheeks turning pink. She held up a snow globe that North had given her, and said, "I think I'd better get back to Santoff Clausen."

"Oh, yeah, of course," Bunny answered, stumbling over his words slightly. "I'll see ya."

Layla shook the snow globe and whispered "North Pole," then watched the portal open. She gave Bunnymund a wave of her hand before stepping through the portal, back to the North Pole.

* * *

The elves scattered suddenly, bringing Layla out of her memories and back to the present. Jack Frost had flown in and was pretending to aim his staff at the elves, so obviously they thought they were going to get frozen.

"Don't be mean, Jack!" Layla glared at him.

"What are you going to do about it, Layla?" the winter spirit answered sardonically.

Layla reached for her bow and arrows and said, "Don't taunt me, Frost. I could shoot you out of the sky if I wanted to."

"You think you're so tough, Cupid. What do you say we settle this once and for all?" Jack answered, a playful gleam in his eyes.

"You're on," Layla grinned.

North came through from his workshop to find the two younger spirits engaged in war. Jack was shooting frost blasts all over, trying to defend himself from the onslaught of arrows Layla shot at him.

"You'll never take me alive!" Jack yelled.

"Give up already, Frost!" Layla retaliated.

She didn't notice a tunnel opening in the floor, or a certain bunny that hopped out of it. Bunnymund jumped out of the tunnel to see Jack Frost fall to his knees in mock defeat.

"I surrender!" the white-haired spirit said, holding out his hands like they were about to be shackled.

Layla grinned in satisfaction. "Do you admit that I'm the better fighter?"

Jack gave her a glare. "I said I surrendered, not that I have no pride."

Layla rolled her eyes. "I still won!"

"Well done, lass," she heard a voice say, and spun around. She hadn't known Bunnymund was there!

"Bunny... I..." she stammered.

He smiled at her in amusement, before saying softly, "G'day, sheila."

Layla knew her shyness was unnecessary. So she gave him a cute smile (at least, she hoped so), and said, "Hi, Bunnymund. Did you miss me?"


	4. Chapter 4: You're Not Alone

"Hey, Manny," Jack said. "Or is North the only one who calls you that?"

He smirked and lazily spun his staff around, staring up at the silver crescent.

"Listen, Layla's started acting weird again. You know she does sometimes. Like she doesn't know where to go next. Lost."

He sighed. "Like how I used to be."

* * *

Night had fallen in the outback, and it was eerily silent. The moon seemed bigger and brighter than usual.

"Uh, hey," a voice said, breaking the silence. "Yeah, I know I never talk to ya, not like Frost or North. But... Look, ya know Cupid. You chose her, I guess, like you chose the Guardians and the other spirits. Did ya tell her who she was? Show her some of her memories?"

This was a strange experience to Bunnymund because he hardly ever talked to Manny. North was the one who did that, and Jack sometimes too. But for maybe a week now, Bunny had been concerned about Layla. At first she'd just been a little quieter than usual, but soon she'd hardly speak to anyone, simply stay in a corner and examine her bow. He hadn't seen her at all for the past few days.

"The sheila's a mystery to me, but it just seems like she doesn't know what to do anymore."

* * *

"I'm honestly not sure how to talk to you."

The Man in the Moon offered no reply.

"So should I just talk? Will you listen?"

She took the total silence to mean yes.

"I've been around for a while, right? If I was meant to meet the Guardians, why now?"

The dark haired spirit sat on a rooftop in Burgess, looking up at the moon and stars in the clear sky.

"I just wake up, and I don't know who I am, except the one thing you tell me. And you haven't spoken since. I found out I could make people fall in love by accident. It wasn't pretty. Couldn't you have just told me? I wonder, Man in the Moon, do you enjoy watching me go through every day not knowing who I am? And not knowing why I'm really supposed to be here? The Guardians all KNOW. They know who they are, what their purpose is. Even Jack, and he was my best friend. I don't know how he found out, and I don't know how I can. So I've got a question. Do I have to be a Guardian before I can find out who I am?"

She knew she'd been talking too much, but she couldn't seem to stop herself. Desperate for an answer, but asking the moon, who never spoke; it seemed kind of ironic. She had hoped he'd finally answer her this time.

"Ok, thank you," Layla said sadly. "I guess I'll just have to find out myself."

* * *

Jack had been summoned by the Northern Lights, and had managed to convince Layla to come with him, although it had taken him a while. At Santoff Clausen, the elves were running around in a frenzy of excitement.

"What's going on?" Jack asked, staring at the four other Guardians.

"Manny has something to say," North answered mysteriously. He then noticed Layla standing near the door. "Layla, good to see you."

Layla gave a tiny smile.

A bright moonbeam shone down onto the inscription in the floor, and the blue Guardian stone rose up from the ground. Curious, Layla moved forward to see.

"Does that mean...?" she started to say.

"There's a new Guardian," Bunny said.

A question mark formed over Sandy's head.

"I don't know, Sandy," Tooth answered his unspoken question.

Layla stared at the face forming in the stone and felt sick to her stomach. No. This wasn't what she wanted. Not yet. The others turned to stare at her.

"No one believes in me!" she protested.

"You are Guardian, Layla," North said. "At least, Manny says so."

"So that makes it true? Whatever the Man in the Moon says is the truth?"

"He chose ya, mate," Bunnymund said, and he shrugged when she glared at him.

"I don't even know what my centre is! Or what that even has to do with anything!"

"Layla, we promise we'll help you. You're not alone, you know," Tooth said, smiling at her.

Layla didn't say anything for a second or two, but then she said, almost too softly for anyone to hear, "Ok."

* * *

For what seemed like the thousandth time, Layla picked up her bow and ran a hand over the small carvings. Shouldn't she be happy right now? She glanced at the inscription on the floor where the blue stone had risen up.

_Am I really the right choice to be a Guardian? _

"Hey, sheila," Bunnymund said as he hopped up to her.

"Hi," she answered shortly, avoiding eye contact. She didn't want to see the pity she thought - she knew - was in those green eyes.

Bunny hated for her to be like this. "Ya don't have to be scared."

"I'm not."

Bunny gave her a 'yeah, right' look.

"I'm terrified," she said honestly. "I don't even know what my centre is."

"Well, ya got to figure that one out for yourself. But ya heard what Tooth said. You're not alone, sheila."

Without another word, he pulled her into a hug. He didn't even know himself why he did it. E. Aster Bunnymund was not a hugger.

Layla hugged him back, burying her cheek in his soft fur, but she broke away first, blushing. Then...

Bunny saw her eyes grow wide and her body tense up for a second, and said, "What's wrong?"

Layla blinked at him and answered, "No... Nothing."

Yes, it was nothing. Only that the Man in the Moon, who hadn't spoken to her in 250 years, had told her, in a calm, deep voice inside her head,

_See your memories. Find your centre and you will find yourself. _


	5. Chapter 5: Believers

**This chapter is short (sorry), and fluffy, and I had to write something about Sophie because she is just too adorable. **

* * *

"What are we doing here?" Layla asked in exasperation.

Jack smirked and threw a snowball at an upstairs window of the house they were standing in front of.

"Bunny?" she asked. He'd tell her, right?

The Pooka just smiled and said nothing.

The window opened, and a boy with messy brown hair and eyes still half-asleep looked out. When he saw the group of Guardians, he lost the sleepy look about him and he broke out in an excited grin.

"Hey, Jamie!" Jack said.

He and Layla flew up to the window. Jamie looked right through her, but Layla didn't expect otherwise. She'd never known about a child who actually believed in Cupid.

"Listen, Jamie. There's a new Guardian," Jack told him, and the boy's eyes widened.

"Really? Who is it?" he asked.

"Cupid. Y'know, Valentines Day."

Jamie's face fell, and he said, sounding hurt, "Very funny, Jack. Everyone knows there's no such person as Cupid."

"You know I can hear you!" Layla said, knowing that he didn't and it wouldn't make any difference.

"Only Sophie believes in Cupid," Jamie added, and Layla stared at him.

"There's a kid who believes in me?"

Just then, the door into Jamie's room opened and a little girl with a mop of blonde hair came in, rubbing her eyes and trailing a pink blanket behind her. She looked up and saw the two Guardians, pointed at Layla and solemnly said, "Cupid."

Jamie shot a strange look at his little sister. "What?"

"Jamie, it Cupid!"

Jamie looked from Sophie to Jack quizzically. Jack shrugged.

"Sophie believes," the winter spirit said, somewhat smugly.

Layla bent down to the little girl's height. "Hey, kid. I had a believer this whole time?"

Sophie giggled.

"There's seriously such a person as Cupid? What's he look like?" Jamie asked doubtfully.

"Wrong gender!" Layla protested.

Jamie turned to stare at her. "Uh... Did you hear that?" she said.

He nodded wordlessly.

"So you can see me."

Another nod.

"Told you," Jack grinned.

* * *

Layla and Jack took the two children outside.

"Bunny!" Sophie exclaimed, running to him and wrapping her small arms around his leg in a hug. He picked the little girl up, making her laugh.

"Hey there, little ankle-biter," he said. "Miss me?"

"Bunny, you know Cupid!" Sophie said happily.

"Yeah, I do," Bunnymund answered, glancing at Layla for maybe a little too long.

"So can you make people fall in love?" Jamie said to Layla.

"Sure. I wouldn't be Cupid otherwise, I guess."

"Hey, Jamie. You want to go to the pond?" Jack asked him, and Jamie nodded.

"Wait - " Layla started, but Bunny stopped her.

"Leave 'em. Frost looks after the kid pretty well."

Sophie yawned, and Layla saw she was shivering in her thin pajamas.

"You cold?" she asked, and the little blonde nodded. "You'd better get back in bed."

Layla took Sophie and told her, "Hold on, ok?"

She flew back up to Jamie's window, and once inside, set Sophie down.

"Go to bed, Sophie. I'll see you soon."

* * *

"She is the most adorable kid I have ever seen," Layla told Bunnymund.

"Yeah, she's cute," he said.

"If these are the kind of kids we protect, I'm fine with being a Guardian."

"Yeah? There's a lot of children that believe, mate."

"I know. But only two that believe in me," she said, a little bit of bitterness creeping into her voice.

Bunnymund took hold of her small hand.

"It's a start."


	6. Chapter 6: Forgotten Memories

**Here's a slightly longer chapter to make up for the last one being short :) please review! **

* * *

The little golden box glittered in her hand. _Ok,_ Layla thought. _My__ old life's memories are all here. I've been wanting to know who I was for years. So why am I so scared to see them? _

Layla looked up at her two best friends and said, "Should I open it?"

"Go ahead, lass," Bunnymund encouraged her.

"Open it already!" Jack said.

Layla bit her lip. She could hear a whispered voice coming from the box, which sounded suspiciously like her own.

She nervously touching her finger to the small blue diamond in the middle. _Here goes nothing..._

* * *

She was maybe seven years old, running home with her big brother. It was almost dark, and she cupped a tooth in her hand. She had lost it when she'd been in the woods with her brother. She loved days like this, when she and John could do what they wanted. Mostly they went to the frozen-over pond, although they shouldn't have been there. The oldest woman in the little town of Burgess, Pippa Frost, who was well into her eighties, always advised the children to stay away from the pond because she'd lost a family member there once...

"Laura!" her brother yelled for her to keep up. She sprinted after him and up to their small house.

"Mama, Mama!" she shouted excitedly as she ran into the kitchen. "I lost my tooth!"

"Oh, that's good! Leave it under your pillow and the Tooth Fairy will bring you something," her mother smiled at her. "You should be in bed by now anyway, come on."

Laura nodded and ran to her room. Later, when she was supposed to be asleep, she sat by the window, staring out into the sky. She was too excited to sleep, and she'd always wanted to see the Tooth Fairy. She noticed something that looked like a cloud, but golden, and she watched in wonder as dreamsand spiraled down. Realisation dawned, and a smile appeared on the small girl's face.

"Sandman," she whispered.

A stream of sand floated directly to her window, and Laura started to feel tired. She yawned and crawled into her bed. Her dreams that night were filled with fairies.

**xXx**

Laura was fifteen. It was Easter, and she was telling her six year old sister another story about the Easter Bunny.

"The Easter Bunny makes all his eggs himself," she told Sarah, "and he hides them on Easter for us to find."

She told her sister this every year.

"Laura, does he know the Tooth Fairy?" Sarah asked her curiously.

"Yes," she nodded. "He knows everyone, not just the Tooth Fairy."

"So he knows Sandman? And Santa?"

"Of course!"

"Does he know Jack Frost?"

Laura smiled and shook her head. "Jack Frost isn't real, Sarah."

"He is so! I've seen him!"

"Really? So what's he look like?" Laura asked, deciding to humour her younger sister.

"He's about John's age," Sarah said, referring to their eighteen year old brother, "and he's got white hair and blue eyes and he wears blue. I see him when it's snowing, and he makes frost on the windows!"

_Cute_, Laura thought. She'd never thought about Jack Frost being real, but she knew the others were. They had to be. She'd seen Sandman when she was seven. Or seen his sand. Whichever.

"Come on, Sarah! Let's go find some Easter eggs!"

She took Sarah's hand and led her out of the house towards the woods, but stopped when they heard loud barking.

"That's Samuel's greyhound, isn't it?" Sarah asked, fear evident in her voice.

Laura nodded. She found both her neighbour and his dog equally irritating. The greyhound, Hunter, terrorized Sarah whenever it saw her.

"Ok, Sarah, stay with Mama for now. I'm going to get that dog so we can go Easter egg hunting."

"Yes, Laura," Sarah answered obediently, before turning to go back to the house.

Laura continued in through the trees, following the sound of barking. Then she heard a voice saying, "You don't wanna mess with me, mate." She didn't recognise the accent.

She reached an open patch of ground where the trees hadn't grown for some reason. The greyhound was growling and advancing on... Was that a giant rabbit?

"Uh... G'day, mate," the rabbit said uncertainly when he noticed her.

She looked him up and down, from the blue-grey markings on his arms and face to the belt with Easter eggs and boomerangs strapped in it.

"You're the Easter Bunny," she said calmly.

He sighed in what she thought was relief. "Yeah, that's me."

The dog let out a short bark, and the bunny backed away. "Any chance you can get rid of the dog?"

"Hunter!" Laura called. The dog looked around at the sound of its name, and then turned back to barking at the bunny.

Laura grabbed the dog by the piece of leather used as its collar. It whined in surprise at being dragged away from its hunt. Laura took it as far as the infamous pond. Then she backtracked her way to the clearing.

"Thanks, sheila," the bunny said.

"No problem," she answered, and he smiled at her before tapping his foot on the ground and disappearing into a tunnel.

Laura shook her head. Well... That was an unexpected experience.

**xXx**

How had her life gone this wrong?

Laura's mother had been sick, and there was nothing anyone could do to save her. The day she died was the worst day of Laura's life. She wished her mother was with her now. It seemed like everyone had left Laura. Her older brother was married and living in Virginia. He and his wife had been happy to take in twelve year old Sarah.

Laura had a complicated relationship with Jeremiah Drake ever since she was sixteen. He had asked her to marry him after her mother died, and she had accepted because it didn't seem like there was an alternative. She was only eighteen, but she couldn't be on her own forever. Now she hated her fiancé more than she'd ever hated anyone.

She walked through the snow in the woods, remembering everything that she'd done there. Three years ago, she'd met the Easter Bunny. And despite everything, she still believed. But she was running out of hope.

She touched her arm, where a bruise was blooming, one of the many inflicted on her by the man she was supposed to love. She had tried to tell someone, but her soon-to-be-husband had such a perfect reputation that she couldn't say anything. It wouldn't have helped anyway.

Looking up at the moon, the tears began to run down her cheeks, leaving icy trails.

"I haven't been a bad person, not really," she told the moon. "Don't I deserve a chance?" The tears were uncontrollable now. "What did I do that led me here?" She was shivering in her thin shirt and bare feet. "All I wanted was someone... That might love me. Someone that I could love." She couldn't take it anymore.

She collapsed in a snow pile. The cold soothed the pain from her bruises and cuts. She closed her eyes... Cold.

* * *

Layla almost dropped the box of teeth. That was how she'd died? Bruised and crying in a snow drift?

"What's wrong?" Bunny said, coming closer to her.

"What did you see?" Jack questioned.

"It's just... I didn't think... I..."

Bunnymund put an arm around her shoulders, and she was grateful to him because it steadied her enough to tell the two about what she'd seen. When she told them about how she'd saved Bunny from the greyhound, he looked embarrassed.

"Oh, yeah. That was YOU?"

"That was me. You didn't tell me you were scared of greyhounds."

Jack laughed, and Bunnymund glared at him.

"What?" Jack asked innocently.

Bunny blatantly ignored him. "So any idea what your centre might be?" he asked Layla.

"None. No idea," Layla said, shaking her head.

_Still, that's one down, one to go._


	7. Chapter 7: Enemies

_The Guardians thought I was gone for good? How foolish of them. _

In his dark, cavernous lair, Pitch Black conjured a nightmare, a horse as it usually was.

"I will never truly be gone," he said aloud to the nightmare, which stamped its hoof, neighed and shied up on its back legs. Pitch felt an icy chill through his bones and turned.

A boy of maybe fourteen or fifteen stood rigidly a little way away. He held no weapon, and his face was shadowed by a grey hood. "Let me join you," he said.

Pitch narrowed his eyes. Who was this boy? Beside him, the nightmare snorted and stamped, and Pitch dismissed it. Somewhere in the world, it would haunt a child's dreams.

The boy ducked his head as Pitch Black strode over to him.

"Well, well," the Boogeyman said in a deceptively smooth voice. "You wish to join my ranks, do you, boy?"

"I do," he answered, his gaze still locked on the rock floor. His voice was cold and devoid of emotion.

"And why should I even consider making you an ally? How can you possibly be any use to me?" Pitch hissed.

The mysterious young boy looked up slowly. Two glowing dark purple circles appeared from the shadows of his hood, and black clouds formed at the top of the cavern. The boy pushed back his hood to reveal a paper-white face with a pointed chin, short black hair, a look of coldness - and dark purple, gleaming eyes.

"What are you trying to prove, boy?" Pitch said.

Blue flashes showed in the clouds and a giant boom of thunder shook the stalactites hanging from the cave ceiling.

"I could kill you in an instant," the purple-eyed boy said in his quiet, emotionless voice. "Are you sure you want to turn my offer down?"

A blinding flash, and a sizzling patch of black near Pitch's feet where lightning had just missed him.

"Do you want to treat this like a game?" Pitch said ominously. "I think you'll find I can bend the rules quite easily..."

He disappeared and reappeared a few metres away, nightmares surrounding him. As one, they surged forward towards the boy, who lifted his hands and brought them down again, sending lightning down from the clouds. The nightmares dissolved when the crackling bolts struck them.

Pitch teleported around the cavern while sending waves of nightmares the boy's way, but he knew how to defend himself, with lightning bolts, deafening rumbles of thunder, and he found the stalactites could be used to his advantage.

Pitch was convinced.

"Enough!"

The boy's tense body relaxed slightly and he turned his gaze to the dark clouds above him, a wave of his hand making them melt away.

"What is your name, boy?" Pitch questioned.

The boy smiled a small, cold smile, his eyes darkening from purple to black.

"My name is Stratos."

* * *

North paced up and down in front of the globe. The lights were going out. And fast. The other Guardians were just as troubled, except Jack, who simply shrugged.

"It's Pitch," Jack said. "Who else would it be?"

"Are you sure?" Layla asked apprehensively.

"Who else could do that?" Jack argued. "It's him. We can take him."

"For once, Snowflake is right," Bunnymund said grudgingly.

He glanced at Layla, concern in his eyes. She swallowed nervously, before a thought occured to her. "It hasn't been that long since his first attack, right?" she asked. "Why would he attack again so soon?"

"He must have a new plan," Tooth said.

A storm cloud floated over Sandy's head. He had a bad feeling about this.

"Sandy?" Tooth asked. "What do you think?"

Above the Sandman's head, a figure of a teenage boy and a cloud appeared, accompanied by lightning.

"You don't think it's him, do ya, mate? Stratos hasn't been causin' any trouble for years!" Bunnymund said.

Layla whispered to Jack, "Who's Stratos?"

He shrugged in response and voiced the question out loud to the others.

"Stratos is storm spirit," North answered. "Many years ago, he caused lot of trouble for the Guardians."

"So You think he AND Pitch are both back?" Layla said.

"It's likely, sheila," Bunny told her.

"Look, why should it be so hard to fight Pitch again, even if he does have some new ally?" Jack pointed out in his cocky manner. "We've got one too!"

Layla gave a half-smile that she hoped masked how scared she probably looked and definitely felt on the inside.

* * *

"How did you do it before?"

"Do what?"

"Defeat Pitch!" Layla said. She set her newly-painted egg down on the soft grass in Bunny's Warren.

"It wasn't as easy as Frost seems to remember," Bunnymund answered.

"I realized that," Layla rolled her eyes. "But... I've been a Guardian for about two seconds compared to the rest of you..." She didn't know why she was voicing her insecurities to Bunnymund. He didn't want to hear them anyway...

"So?"

"I don't know... Maybe I won't be able to fight him and... Whatever that storm spirit's name is."

"Sheila, you're good with that bow and arrow. You'll be fine."

"You sure about that?" She looked the bunny in the eyes and wasn't sure what emotion they held.

"Darlin', you wouldn't be a Guardian otherwise."

She nodded. "I guess so."

She had a pretty smile, he noted. The best was when she was directing that cute smile at him, like now. Bunnymund banished the thoughts from his head; it wouldn't work out anyway. She'd be better off with someone like Jack.

Though her green eyes still drew him in every time he looked.

* * *

**I specialise in fluff ;) **

**Anyway! I don't know whether this chapter was good, bad or average, so please review! **


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